“Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap: and he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of old, and as in former years.”
A refining, purifying process is going on among the people of God, and the Lord of hosts has set his hand to this work. This process is most trying to the soul, but it is necessary in order that defilement may be removed. Trials are essential in order that we may be brought close to our heavenly Father, in submission to his will, that we may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. God’s work of refining and purifying the soul must go on until his servants are so humbled, so dead to self, that when called into active service, they may have an eye single to the glory of God. Then they will not move rashly from impulse and imperil the Lord’s cause because they are slaves to temptation and passion, because they follow their carnal desires; but they will move from principle and in view of the glory of God. The Lord brings his children over the same ground again and again, increasing the pressure until perfect humility fills the mind, and the character is transformed; then they are victorious over self, and in harmony with Christ and the spirit of heaven.
The purification of God’s people cannot be accomplished without suffering. God permits the fire of affliction to consume the dross, to separate the worthless from the valuable, in order that the pure metal may shine forth. He passes us from one fire to another, testing our true worth. True grace is willing to be tried. If we are loath to be searched by the Lord, our condition is one of peril. God is the refiner and purifier of souls. He places us in the heat of the furnace, that the dross may be forever separated from the true gold of Christian character. Jesus watches the test. He knows just what fire of temptation and trial is needed to purify the precious metal, in order that the radiance of divine love may be reflected.
It is by close, testing trials that the Lord brings his people near to himself; for in trial and temptations he discovers to them their weakness, and teaches them to lean upon him as their only help and safeguard. When this result is attained, his object is accomplished, and his tried servants are prepared to be used in every emergency, to fill important positions of trust, and to accomplish the grand purposes for which their powers were given them. God takes men upon trial, and he proves them upon the right hand and upon the left, until they are educated, trained, and disciplined for his use.
Trials will come upon us that are originated by the prince of evil. The enemy will contend for the life or the usefulness of the servants of God, and will seek to mar their peace as long as they remain in the world. But his power is limited. He may cause the furnace to be heated, but Jesus and holy angels watch the precious ore; and to the trusting Christian, grace will be found sufficient, and nothing but the worthless dross will be consumed. The fire kindled by the enemy can have no power to destroy the true gold. At times the powers of darkness gather about the soul and shut Jesus from our sight, and we wait in sorrow and amazement until the cloud passes over. While under the trial, these seasons are terrible. Hope seems to fail, and despair seizes upon us. But in these dreadful hours we must learn to trust, to depend wholly upon the merits of a crucified and risen Saviour, and cast our souls in their helplessness and unworthiness upon him who is mighty to save unto the uttermost all who come unto God by him. We shall never perish while we do this, never.
We need not be astonished at trial. Peter says, “Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial that is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: but rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.”
Jesus says: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away; and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.” There is a constant tendency among the trees of the Lord to be more profuse in foliage than in fruit. Just as the strength and nourishment of the grape vine are taken up in abundant foliage, and the fruit is not brought to perfection unless the vine is pruned, so the strength of the Christian will fail of its true end, unless the heavenly Husbandman prunes away the useless growth. In prosperity the followers of Jesus often turn their thoughts and energies toward gratifying themselves, to securing worldly treasure, to the enjoyment of ease and pleasure and luxury, and they bring forth little fruit to the glory of God; then the heavenly Husbandman, in order to promote the fruitfulness of the branches, comes with the pruning knife of disappointment, loss, or bereavement, and cuts away the hindering growth.
One evening a gentleman who was much depressed because of deep affliction, was walking in a garden, where he observed a pomegranate tree nearly cut through the stem. Greatly wondering, he asked the gardener why the tree was in this condition, and he received an answer that explained to his satisfaction the wounds of his own bleeding heart. “Sir,” said the gardener, “this tree used to shoot out so strong that it bore nothing but leaves. I was obliged to cut it in this manner; and when it was almost cut through, it began to bear fruit.”
Our sorrows do not spring out of the ground. In every affliction God has a purpose to work out for our good. Every blow that destroys an idol, every providence that weakens our hold upon earth and fastens our affections more firmly upon God, is a blessing. The pruning may be painful for a time, but afterward it “yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness.” We should receive with gratitude whatever will quicken the conscience, elevate the thoughts, and ennoble the life. The fruitless branches are cut off and cast into the fire. Let us be thankful that through painful pruning, we may retain a connection with the living Vine; for if we suffer with Christ we shall also reign with him. The very trial that taxes our faith the most severely and makes it seem as though God had forsaken us, is to lead us more closely to him, that we may lay all our burdens at the feet of Christ, and experience the peace which he will give us in exchange.
Let no Christian feel that he is forsaken when the hour of trial comes upon him. Not a sparrow falls to the ground without your heavenly Father’s notice. God loves and cares for the feeblest of his creatures, and we cannot dishonor him more than by doubting his love to us. O let us cultivate that living faith that will trust him in the hour of darkness and trial! Living faith in the merits of a crucified Redeemer will carry men through the fiery furnace of affliction and trial, and the form of the Fourth will be with them in the furnace, however fierce its heat; and they will come forth from its flame with not even the smell of the fire on their garments.
Joseph was sold into Egypt. He was put into prison. The enemy strove to overwhelm him in darkness. The darkness was so great that it seemed every ray of hope was extinguished; but his faith took hold on God, and it was rewarded. God brought him out of the dungeon, and made him a light to the world. Our heavenly Father sees the hearts of men, and he knows their characters better than they do themselves. He sees that some have capabilities which are not directed in the right way,8but that if they could be turned into the right channel, they would bring glory to his name by advancing the cause of truth in the world. He places these persons on trial, and in his wise providence brings them into different positions, into a variety of circumstances, where they are tested in order that they may reveal what is in their hearts and make manifest the weak points of their characters, which have even been hidden from their own eyes. God gives them opportunities to correct these defects, to polish off the rough corners of their natures, and to fit themselves for his service. If they do this work, then when he calls them into active service, they are ready so that the angels of heaven cooperate with them in their labors, and the purpose is fulfilled for which God called them to his service.
It is in mercy that the Lord reveals to men their hidden defects. He would have them critically examine the complicated emotions and motives of their own hearts, and detect that which is wrong, and modify their dispositions, and refine their manners. God would have his servants become acquainted with their own hearts. In order to bring to them a true knowledge of their condition, he permits the fire of affliction to assail them, so that they may be purified. The trials of life are God’s workmen to remove the impurities, the infirmities, and roughness from our characters, and fit them for the society of pure, heavenly angels in glory. Then as we pass through trial, as the fire of affliction kindles upon us, shall we not keep our eyes fixed upon the things that are unseen, on the eternal inheritance, the immortal life, the far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory? and while we do this, the fire will not consume us, but only remove the dross, and we shall come forth seven times purified, bearing the impress of the Divine.—Review and Herald, April 10, 1894.
Time to Seek the Lord
By Wallace W. Gibson
WALLACE W. GIBSON
THERE is a feeling of uneasiness and dread stealing over the people as they contemplate the terrible scenes of war, social unrest, and elemental disturbances which now exist. We are living in momentous times. In Europe war is rampant. Those nations which are not already in the battle are perilously near it. All the resources of statesmanship and diplomacy of those nations are required so to keep neutral. Cities and villages, once the homes of a happy, contented, and industrious people, are now desolate, smoking ruins, and the fathers, mothers, and children are homeless wanderers on the face of the earth. In other parts of the world there are revolutions and agitations which seem about to make the whole earth a seething caldron of destruction.
Never in any age in modern times has there been such intense feeling between capital and labor. The prophecy of the fifth chapter of James seems to be fulfilling before our very eyes. The idle rich are taking their pleasure, while the idle poor, ground and pinched by poverty and want, are getting desperate. It seems as if the maelstrom of industrial revolution was about to burst upon our civilization.
During the last few years there have been terrible storms, earthquakes, tidal waves, floods, tornadoes and hailstorms in increasing number. Prophecies are unfolding before our eyes. Many people admit there never was their like in historic times. These are not idle fancies, but facts. These events call to mind the text of scripture in Luke 21:26: “Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.”
A careful survey of conditions on this earth can only bring to our minds with greater force the impending judgments of God. We are living in the time when the Spirit of God is being withdrawn from the earth. Yet terrible as are the times, they are but the forerunner of worse events.
When we, as Seventh-day Adventists, see all these things, we should awake to the fact that the end is at hand, and we, as a body, have not received the latter rain. Let me quote from “Early Writings,” pages 85 and 86: “The commencement of the time of trouble . . . does not refer to the time when the plagues shall begin to be poured out, but to a short period just before they are poured out, while Christ is in the sanctuary. At that time, while the work of salvation is closing, trouble will be coming on the earth, and the nations will be angry, yet held in check so as not to prevent the work of the third angel. At that time the ‘latter rain,’ or refreshing from the presence of the Lord, will come, to give power to the loud voice of the third angel, and prepare the saints to stand in the period when the seven last plagues shall be poured out.”
We are in the time of the latter rain. God has told us to ask for the Holy Spirit at this time, so the work can be finished. Evidence accumulates that now is the time God’s people need the Spirit. Sister White writes on page 71 of “Early Writings:” “I saw that none could share the ‘refreshing’ unless they obtain the victory over every besetment, over pride, selfishness, love of the world, and over every wrong word and action.”
There can none of us afford to become so calloused and indifferent as to allow our part in the work of God to be forfeited by default. It is a momentous time. Souls are saved or lost on the decision. O let us humble ourselves before God and repent, pleading with him for power. ‘Blow ye the trumpet in Zion [God’s church], and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand.’ Joel 2:1. Let all the church arouse, shake off the sleepy, drowsy feeling, proclaim our message to the world in a commanding manner, and place before a dying people the last call of God’s mercy. While we have yet time, let us follow the injunction of the prophet: ‘Gird yourselves, and lament, ye priests: howl, ye ministers of the altar: come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God: for the meat offering and the drink offering is withheld from the house of your God. Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the Lord your God, and cry unto the Lord.’ Joel 1:13, 14.
Let us examine ourselves and repent of our sins and plead with God for an abundance of the Spirit. Then God’s work in the earth will be cut short, and soon we shall see him face to face and be like him. May God help us to follow in the footsteps of our blessed Master.
Taunton, Mass.
True Leadership
By C. M. Babcock
C. M. BABCOCK
Of all those who have trodden the pathway of this earth Christ is the supreme example of true leadership. He recognized himself as a leader in the true sense when he said, on one occasion, “I am the way.” How suggestive are these words! At once we catch the thought that Jesus himself went whithersoever he desires others to go. Jesus led in that he went before and blazed the way for those who were to follow. Nothing was so trying or so hard that the great Master Leader was not willing to set the example. In the book of Hebrews, fourth chapter and fifteenth verse, we have this principle enunciated, “We have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” While this scripture does not have direct reference to leadership, yet it has in it the elements which go to make successful leadership, that is, a willingness to go before and invite others to follow.
Jesus came down to this world, was born of a woman, born under the law, clothed with the nature of man; and he went everywhere that man must go, experienced every trial that man must experience, was tempted in every way that man must be tempted, and withheld himself from nothing that human flesh may be subjected to, even death on the cross, that he might be in the truest sense a leader of men. He did not ask any of his servants to go where he himself was unwilling to go before them. He did not require of any of his followers obedience to any law which he was unwilling to obey.
How different is this great leader from the boss who does not consider himself amenable to the laws he makes for others, and does not take upon himself the burdens that he requires others to bear, but drives, rather than leads, men to their tasks.
Not only was Christ a leader of men,9but he was a trainer of leaders. Yet how signally the men to whom Jesus looked for leadership when he had laid down his life work here, failed to grasp this great principle of leadership which had been so beautifully exemplified in their Master’s life. Shortly before the Saviour concluded his work on earth, he was going with his disciples to the place of the Passover Supper when he heard them discussing among themselves which should be the greatest. It was evident from the conversation of these men, that self-esteem and selfishness were the controlling influences in their lives; and the Saviour must have been pained at hearing their conversation. No doubt Peter and James and John were confident that of all men they were the best qualified to take responsibilities, and considered themselves amply qualified to lead out in the great work to which they had been called.
This very confidence was evidence of their unfitness for their work as leaders of men. These characteristics which were manifest in their lives might be suitable for bosses, but not for leaders. They might have been prepared to tell others what to do, but manifestly they were not ready to do some things themselves. The Master sought to show them their need. As they gathered around the table to partake of the Passover, it fell to some one to perform the part of a servant. None of these men with their self-esteem were willing to do this. Jesus arose from the table, and taking the basin and towel began to wash the disciples’ feet. What a stinging rebuke was this to the pride, arrogance, and self-importance of these men, and what a simple demonstration of what constituted true leadership!
I will try to enumerate in order some of the principles that have to do with this question. First, a successful leader must have a humble opinion of himself, must not be afraid to serve, and must be willing to go all the way that he asks others to go. What the world needs is leaders of men; those who can lead the way and invite others to follow. Some who have been unwilling to do this, through some combination of influence have risen to dizzy heights only to lose their balance and fall in ignominious defeat. That person is prepared to lead men who has gone the way before, who has learned by experience the nature of the requirements he places upon others. Second, an individual who becomes a leader must be amenable to the laws he makes. Jesus Christ, the great Leader, proved the justice of his own requirements by himself submitting to the laws he made for others. It seems to me that every successful leader, even in a worldly way, has recognized to some extent these principles; but how much more important that those who are the followers of the meek and lowly Jesus should have these principles firmly embedded in their lives!
Leaders grow: they are the product of years of earnest, ardent toil. They are not men who have conceived the idea of becoming great, but those who have had some purpose which through the years of patient toil they have achieved. This success inspired confidence in their fellows, and they have been thrust forward as men who were in a position to show others the way. It is not necessary that a man be given jurisdiction over his fellows in order to be a leader. I have just been reading the life of George L. Mackay, and his life exemplifies the thought I have in mind. Mackay had all the requisites of a true leader, chief among which was an undaunted determination to overcome every obstacle in his life, and accomplish his purpose at all hazards. When but a small lad breaking stones, it is said that when he and his brother had about finished a day’s work and had only one great stone left to be broken with the heat of the fires which they were kindling, the brother said to George, “We can’t break that one,” but George, jumping up on the great rock, clenched his fists and said, “We will break it,” and they did. This spirit enabled little George, when he had grown to manhood, to break the great rock of heathenism in Formosa, and to become a leader of men; not a ruler, not a dictator, not a boss, but a leader. The years of toil, the sacrifice, the effort that resulted in bringing hundreds to the fold of Christ in Formosa, made Mackay a leader of men. Possessed of that same undying love for others that led our Saviour to sacrifice his life for humanity, Mackay risked his life over and over that he might nurture and protect those whom God had given him for the fruitage of his toil. This same spirit in the hearts of Carey, Judson, and scores and hundreds of others who have given their lives for the service of the Master, to go out into the world and carry his glorious message of salvation, has made them leaders of men.
Do you want to be a leader of men? Do not look for an opportunity to dictate what others shall do, but for an opportunity to render some real service for the benefit of humanity and the upbuilding of the principles of the kingdom of Christ.
Our Plans
By J. S. Rouse
J. S. ROUSE
WHEN Joseph was about eighteen years old, no doubt he had begun to make some plans for his future life; but surely after he had the dreams of the sheaves and the sun, moon, and stars, with the interpretation plainly before him, he began to conjecture as to how the fulfilment of these would take place. How perfectly natural it would be for him to say, “If father and mother and the boys are to bow to me, I must first be exalted, for it is to kings and governors that tribute or homage is due.” With such thoughts in his mind, no doubt the young lad laid some plans to carry out the desire of his ambitious character.
His father had presented him with the seamless garment, thus showing the desire he had for the exaltation of his dearly beloved son to the sacred calling of the priesthood. However, whatever plans this child of God had in his mind for himself must have changed when he was sold to the Ishmaelitish merchant-men. Later, when he was cast into prison, his plans to exalt himself all went to pieces.
While in prison he had time to reflect and seek the Lord, that he might be free from all evil thoughts against his brethren for their misconduct toward him. While thus engaged in seeking the Lord, he began to see the plan that God had for him. He praised the Lord that he had helped him to forget all the evil of his father’s house, and all the toil brought upon him by his brethren.
The Lord’s plan for Joseph could now begin to be realized. When God allows our plans to go to pieces, it is because he has greater and better plans to be carried out in our lives.
Joseph was brought from prison, and made powerful in the kingdom of Egypt. When he afterwards met his brethren, he could say: “So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God; and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.” “Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.” Joseph could now see the hand of God in all the perplexities that had come to him.
How patient we should be when our air castles fall and go to pieces, remembering that God has a far greater plan for us.
Individual Salvation
By A. S. Booth
A. S. BOOTH
We lose much in our Christian experience by not considering the promises of God from the individual standpoint. The Good Shepherd was willing to go after the one lost sheep. If the promises of God mean anything to us, we should certainly appropriate and prove them for ourselves.
Suppose a man die and leave a large amount of money to the inhabitants of the world. It would not interest us very much. But suppose word came that it was left to us individually. I am sure we should become much more interested.
So it is with the promises and blessings of God. When we consider that Christ was willing to endure the great trial of affliction that came to him while in the flesh, and eventually to die that we might have life individually, God’s promises mean much more to us.
There is but one thing that will separate us from the blessings which heaven is so willing to bestow upon us, and that is unconfessed sin. The Lord can forgive only the sins that are confessed. Said David, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.”
The earnest consecration of self that should be manifest by the people of God is expressed in Zech. 12:9-14: “It shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of10grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his first-born.
“. . . And the land shall mourn, every family apart; the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of Shimei apart, and their wives apart; all the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart.”
The closest relationship that can possibly exist between the members of the human family is that between man and wife. The foregoing text reveals an individual mourning. The wife goes apart by herself, and there entreats God for forgiveness. The husband is also seeking the Lord. The various families of the house of Israel at their family altars are crying out to God. The whole house of God mourns.
The mourning brought to view in this text is that of the broken and contrite in heart. They mourn “as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his first-born.”
We see parents bring their first-born into the world. The wife risks her life in order so to do. The husband risks losing his wife. The child grows. Soon it manifests intelligence, and begins to recognize things. Then the parents are made glad to hear their babe lisp the words “papa” and “mamma.” But along comes the cruel reaper Death, and the child dies. We see the parents in the quiet of their home bowed by the deathbed of their first-born. Think you that they mourn in earnest?
What is it that will cause the whole house of Israel thus to mourn? Ah! said the Lord, “They shall look upon me whom they have pierced.” It is a mistake to charge the death of Christ simply to the Jews. It was sin that caused the sacrifice of the Son of God. In order that we may see the exceeding terribleness of sin, and learn to hate it as we should, we should recognize that it was just as much our individual sin that caused the death of the Master, as the sin of any number of other persons.
Suppose that every time we sinned, we had to do as the Romans did — place a crown of thorns on the Master’s brow, nail him to the cross, or with a spear pierce his side. If we loved the Lord very much, do you not think that after we had put him to death a number of times, we should begin to hate sin so that we would determine to stop sinning? The person who fully realizes that it was his or her sin that helped to cause the Lord so much suffering, will be better prepared to help fulfil Zechariah 12.
Sin is a terrible thing. It is responsible for all the discord, misunderstanding, and suffering that has existed in the universe of God. Sin caused the death of Christ, made devils of some of the angels, drove Adam and Eve from the garden, and has swept many of the human family down to perdition. Sin causes us to grow old, makes the eye grow dim, the step infirm and faltering; it makes the hand nerveless and unsteady, clouds the brow, and weakens the heart. Sin is the cause of all the broken hearts, funeral trains, and graves in the land. All the misery and suffering, all the pain and agony, every woe and pang and heartache may be spelled with the three letters — s-i-n. You cannot say “sin” without hearing the hiss of the serpent. Thank God for the forgiveness of sin. May we learn to hate and turn from it, that eventually we may be saved with an eternal salvation.
*Salt Lake City, Utah.
The Necessity of Law
By Milton C. Wilcox
The Law of God — No. 1
The Necessity of Law
MILTON C. WILCOX
Few are the persons who pause to appreciate the blessing of law. They gather of its benefits and blessings, thinking naught of the source from which they come.
Many there are who wish, in various limited senses, at least, that law was suspended or repealed. Thus wishes the thief, the forger, the highwayman, as he stands at the bar of justice.
Suppose that reliable news should come to us on a certain evening that the next day at midnight all civil law would be suspended for one week. The thoughtless would laugh at the idea as a huge joke. The criminal would chuckle to himself over ill-gotten gains no more illegal. The thoughtful and conscientious would shudder with consternation, and the children of God would pray to be kept by the Upholder of the universe during that awful time. The foolishly longed-for and wisely dreaded hour would come, and the fearful reign of lawlessness would begin.
In the awful record of that week we would read of events something like these:—
Regular and habitually criminal persons plunged at once into a carnival of evil deeds. Others with criminal propensities were held for a while by custom and education. The moral people passed on as usual, led by a higher law. But the covetous at heart, the inward hater of good, the evilly disposed, began at once to plot deeds of evil or to put into operation plans already laid, that a few hours before were criminal, but now were not, though as inherently wrong as ever.
Many men do business as usual, believing that success demands it. But not so with many others. The “ephah” is made small and the “shekel great.” The “false balances” are brought out, and used with impunity.
The morning of the second day began to bring news of the more dread results. Mr. Jones remarks to his wife, “Neighbor Smith’s horse was stolen last night.” “That is a great loss to him,” said his wife; “does he know who took it?” “Yes,” was the reply, “he has every evidence needed to prove that Gimlin across the street took the horse, and is now using it openly.” “Why is he not arrested?” it is asked, and Mr. Jones’s reply is, “There is no law now against horse stealing, and neighbor Smith is not strong enough physically to take the horse from the Gimlins.”
In a little while a neighbor steps in and asks, “Have you heard the news regarding the Jepsons?” “No, what is it?” “The father was shot down in cold blood in his own yard by Redson River last night. River has held a grudge against him for some time, and he took advantage of the suspension of the law against murder. He is not therefore a criminal by law, and is legally a free citizen.”
“How dreadful!” moans the wife. “No one is safe,” she continued. “We are not, for we have enemies as well as Jepson, and for the same reason too,—we helped to close the saloons.”
And thus the day wore on to noon, and from noon to night. Murder, rape, adultery, theft, robbery, assault, crimes innumerable and unnamable were perpetrated in ever-growing frequency, only they were not crimes now. Law was not.
Mob law resulted. Communities sought to execute summary vengeance in self-protection, but mob law opposed them. Populous neighborhoods were scenes of internecine strife. Men committed murder and were murdered. Women went mad from fear and grief. Children fled like hunted hares. Pillage and arson reigned in the cities. The country became a living hell. Before the week had half rolled by the people were crying for “law and order.”
Yet there were bright spots. There were men and women who were calm, hopeful, devoted in service for others, doing justice and right at all times. These had written on their hearts the moral law, which if men transgress they must die, but which can never be repealed because it is rooted in infinite knowledge, wisdom, and righteousness.
Is the picture overdrawn? We know it is not. “The carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” Rom. 8:7. Therefore the haters of God’s law need the restraining influence of civil law. But if all civil, legal restraints were removed, what a fearful world it would be, and how infinitely worse it would be if there were no higher law than that of man’s shaping!
Then as law and government are ordained of God, he is a God of law, a God of order, otherwise his government would be anarchy, ending in everlasting night and oblivion. Civil law is a necessity in a world of sin. Moral law is infinitely more a necessity, back of which must be a moral Governor infinite in knowledge, in wisdom, in power, in resource, in duration.
Civil law is often a perversion of the divine, and works injustice to humanity. The world has been cursed with iniquity11and tyranny throughout the ages. But this very thing mightily argues for a divine law and a divine Lawgiver, a law perfect in its operations, and a Lawgiver whose decisions and judgment are infinitely just.
Nature gives glimpses of such a God. But terrestrial nature does not present a perfect law nor reveal a perfect God; for she is herself perverted. The fearful storms which sweep our planet, the mighty earthquakes that rock and rive the earth, are not the results of perfect law from a perfect God. Rather they are the results of the perversion of his law. Nature reveals wisdom and beauty and power, but we must have a higher revelation to know God.
The God of the Bible
Such a revelation is found in the Bible, the word of God to the children of men. That word reveals God as Creator, the great moral Governor, the compassionate Father, the mighty Redeemer, the loving Friend. That God has a law, the fulness of perfection morally, comprehending every duty in its marvelous scope, prohibiting every wrong. What that law is will be the topic of the next article in this series. It is worthy of our most earnest study.
Mountain View, Cal.
The Little Word We Wished to Say
By Margaret Root Garvin
O LITTLE word we wish to say,
Behind our lips you hide away!
Your bolder, baser brothers pass,
And men will judge by these, alas!
Forgiven fault and comrade cheer
You have withheld from hearts most dear;
Why, when they called, did you not come?
O little word, why were you dumb?
And now — ah, pity! — none may guess
How much you held of happiness;
How fair you were, how wise, how gay —
The little word we wished to say!
— Margaret Root Garvin.
Jamaica
By C. H. Keslake
C. H. KESLAKE
THE third angel’s message is making its way in all parts of the country, and souls are being won to the truth. The situation, however, cannot be painted with roseate hues. The war is having its effect upon commerce, and money is difficult to obtain. Besides this, Jamaica has of late been visited by some severe storms, and much devastation has been wrought. Last August a hurricane swept the island and destroyed, it is said, ninety per cent of the banana crop. It would take the island several months to recover from such a blow; but following this there have been a number of storms more or less severe, resulting in further damage. It will cost the government tens of thousands of pounds to repair railroads and other highways of travel.
THE FLOODED TENT AT PORT MARIA, JAMAICA
At this writing Elder Mignott and the writer are holding a series of tent meetings in Port Maria, a town in the northeastern part of the island. This is one of the many towns that suffered severely last August. It has lain in the wake of several storms since, while the rain has been almost incessant. On November 14, as the result of heavy rains a portion of the town was flooded. Our tent stood in the stricken district. The accompanying picture shows the tent flooded, with Elder Mignott and the writer standing almost knee-deep in the water. At the time the water was rushing through the tent like a river. Fortunately no damage was done to the tent, but we were unable to hold any meetings for some days afterward. These conditions have seriously crippled the interest. Nevertheless we are glad to report that some have accepted the truth and are walking in the light, and we have hopes of others.
There has recently been quite an agitation on the part of the clergy in Kingston with respect to the enforcement of Sunday by law. This has given us a splendid opportunity of presenting the principles of religious liberty before the people. The leading daily newspaper has given us from time to time as much as two columns of space. The writer has received appreciative letters from different parts of the island from those not of our faith, thanking us for giving them the opportunity of learning these great principles. Throughout the island thousands are reading our articles, and we trust that with the Lord’s blessing many will yet take their stand with us to keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.
Our bitterest opponent is a legislator. He has called upon the government to expel us from the country, because we take12the position that “we ought to obey God rather than men.” This is verbatim the charge he brings against us. Just now the discussion deals principally with the question as to which day is the Sabbath, the first or the seventh.
Despite so many adverse circumstances, we are of good courage, and are anxious to do our part in warning the island.
